German-Polish Energy Transition Forum 2024

After a successful start in Warsaw in 2023, the German-Polish Energy Transition Forum entered its second round in Berlin on 16 and 17 May 2024. Under the motto 'Shaping the European energy transition together', more than 120 representatives from politics, business and civil society from both countries met in the Weltsaal of the Federal Foreign Office to discuss concrete steps towards European climate neutrality in 2050.

The 2nd German-Polish Energy Transition Forum is an important milestone in the intensification of bilateral relations between Germany and Poland in the field of climate and energy policy.

In their opening speeches, Jennifer Morgan, State Secretary and Special Envoy for International Climate Policy at the Federal Foreign Office, Urszula Zielińska, State Secretary at the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment, and Udo Philipp, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, emphasised the importance of cooperation between Germany and Poland in accelerating the energy transition in Europe.

The Forum was officially opened the evening before with a reception at the Polish Embassy in Grunewald by the Polish Ambassador to Germany, Darius Pawłoś, and the German Ambassador in Warsaw, Viktor Elbling. In the afternoon, at the invitation of Dr Reichel, member of the German-Polish Parliamentary Group in the German Bundestag, German and Polish think tanks exchanged views on social aspects of the energy transition in households.

Key points in bilateral cooperation

During the discussions, it became clear that Germany and Poland face similar challenges in the energy transition and want to expand their cooperation. Both countries see the energy transition not only as a climate policy issue, but also as a driving element for a secure, resilient and economically strong Europe.

Germany aims to source 80% of its electricity from renewables by 2030 and phase out coal by 2038 at the latest. Poland aims to generate 32% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. By 2040, half of the future energy mix will come from renewables, quadrupling capacity. Coal will then account for only 8 per cent of the electricity mix and will be phased out by 2049.

In addition to the heating transition and the decarbonisation of industry, the planned expansion of the electricity transmission grids, the development of the hydrogen infrastructure and the flanking of the coal phase-out are further important topics and points of contact in the bilateral cooperation between the two countries. A key issue in the energy transition is the social acceptability of consumer prices, which have a strong influence on public acceptance of the transition. The forum provided an opportunity for a trusting dialogue on these and other issues.

The German-Polish Forum on Energy Transition will be continued next year. Information on this will be published here in the coming months.

German-Polish cooperation in the energy sector is multifaceted and includes political-strategic, technological-economic, regional and cross-border cooperation. Please contact us if you have any ideas or suggestions for topics:

Presentations: 

Keynote, Mariusz Skwarczynski (PPTX, 43 MB)
Keynote, Clara Vollmer (PPTX, 2 MB)
Pitch, Joern Mantz (PPTX, 3 MB)
Pitch, Bartlomiej Kupiec (PPTX, 699 KB)